The Little Things
by Sandileina
Summary: Direct sequel to ‘I’m Not Going’. It’s the little things that Marui will miss the most.


**Disclaimer: **If I owned it, then this would actually be happening. Come to your own conclusions.

**Rating: **PG

**Warnings: **Shounen-ai, dire angst

**Summary: **Direct sequel to 'I'm Not Going'. It's the little things that Marui will miss the most.

**Author's notes: **Another Rikkai drabblething. **You don't have to have read the ones that come before this, but it might help a bit. **The drabblething list goes:

**Times of Stress**

**Passing the Time**

**How to ask out Marui Bunta**

**Four Days Later**

**October Ice**

**Because I Love You**

**Evil**

**Further Nonsense**

**Dear Diary**

**Kind of… the same**

**100 Word Challenges**

**Driver in a Hurry, Child in a Coma**

**Doctor, doctor!**

**The Woes of Solomon Grundy**

**I'm Not Going**

**The Little Things**

Takes place during 'I'm Not Going'. Specifically, the end, at night. If you haven't read that, please go do so, otherwise your brain might fall out :o and we don't want that now, do we? No.

Thanks to **Joecavegal, Uozumi, Claude Le Viste, KiriharaAkaya **(my gawd, yes!! An Akaya fanclub! We should totally start one…)**, Pikke Wood **(Of course, please do call me Sandy :) It's what I prefer. xDD Your review made me twitch in happiness, by the way ;pp I love it when I can get that kind of reaction from people), **Ryuu Amethyst, Merissala, Haru-Hatori-Hiro, Aminesque** (xDD Not every story has a happy ending, my pretty kitty…), **Old Fiat, Maya **(well, see, I thought I should, but when I asked in my author's notes at the end of one of the drabblethings whether I should, I got three or four saying no, and none saying yes, so… I thought I'd keep it like this :) lol), **Roey Cleine, Toh Sock **(liUAHEFlseguihaelriguhaergliUSRHG means 'Orange' in Russian… LOL Ok, maybe not… great word though…) and **EiKiTouYuIchiMaSyuke Angel **(What a name! Explain it to me?). You guys all rock my socks.

**-------------------------------**

Marui stared dully at the wall of his bedroom. It stared back blankly.

He felt completely drained; he'd been so busy arguing with Kirihara-san and then yelling at his own kitchen when it was completely unsympathetic to his misery that he hadn't eaten any sugar in nearly ten hours. As a result, his blood sugar was lower than it had ever been before. It was one of the most horrible physical feelings in the world, right up there with walking in wet socks.

It hadn't helped that he'd had a good cry too and then forgotten that crying dehydrated you. He'd just had a glass of water, but as far as he could tell it wasn't really doing anything.

He was lying on his stomach on his little futon, trying to stare a hole through the skirting board. Any minute now, it was bound to start smoking.

A small knock sounded at his door. Marui almost jumped up, but then remembered that it was eleven pm and there was no way Akaya would be knocking on his bedroom door. He shut his eyes, pretending to be asleep in case whoever it was tried to open his door.

"Ne, Bunta?" a female voice whispered. Great. Naeko-chan. Bunta continued to pretend he was asleep.

He heard his door creak open, and then creak shut. He almost opened his eyes again, but then he realised that Naeko-chan had come into the room. Her footsteps padded across the floor and he felt her sit down by the futon. She was his mother's sister, his aunt, but she was only five years older than him and they'd grown up like brother and sister.

"You're awake, right?" she whispered.

"No."

She giggled slightly and Bunta wished that she'd go away.

A hand petted his hair gently, and he was startled into opening his eyes. He rolled onto his side and scowled up at his aunt. "I'm not five anymore," he muttered.

Naeko gave him a small smile. "I know."

"What're you doing in here anyway?" Bunta asked. "Don't you have exams tomorrow?"

"Hmm? No. Oh, well, yes… but it's in the afternoon, so I can sleep in. I heard about Kirihara-kun moving to Hokkaido."

Bunta tensed. "I don't wanna talk about it."

Naeko lay down on the floor next to him, like she'd done so many times when they were small and Naeko had thought Bunta needed protecting in case the rain monsters tried to eat him.

"Talking would help more than you just lying here all night like a lemon," she said gently. Bunta shrugged.

Naeko watched him sympathetically. "It's the little things, isn't it?" she said suddenly. "That you're going to miss."

Bunta stayed silent. But after a few seconds his curiousity got the better of him, and he muttered, "What?"

"The little things. I mean, you'll obviously miss him as him, but it'll be the little things you miss the most."

"You're not making sense," Bunta scowled grumpily.

Naeko chewed her lip as she tried to find a better way of phrasing it. "Well, like when I broke up with Masa-kun. It was the little things about him that I missed the most. The way he always blew on his drink before taking a sip, even if it was cold. And when he sneezed he always muttered 'bless you' under his breath. And how he used to call his cat 'froghob' because it always tried to eat the baby frogs in the spring, and then be sick afterwards. That kind of thing."

Bunta looked at Naeko for a moment, then turned his head a little more into the pillow. "… He hates milk," he offered uncertainly.

Naeko gave him an encouraging nod. "Go on."

Bunta hesitated, not sure what else he'd miss most about Akaya. But then pictures, little video snapshots flooded his mind, and suddenly he couldn't have stopped himself if he'd tried. "His favourite things in the world are green tea, crayons, his trainers and Mura-buchou. He can't sleep on his back because he claims it gives him nightmares. And when he has nightmares he always hits a tennis ball against a wall for ages next morning. He's got a strangely childish way of looking at the world, even though he grew up with a father who used to beat his mother. And he always forgets to lock the front door when he goes out, and panics about it because no-one's told him yet that his new door locks automatically when you shut it."

The last one made Naeko laugh a bit, but she hastily shushed herself and gestured. "What else?"

Images of a laughing, happy Akaya filled his mind's eye. "It makes him really happy when he thinks he's gotten the better of fukubuchou. Although he usually hasn't. He can never keep a secret either. He never means to tell them, but he always does by sheer accident. But it never actually matters, come to think of it, cos if Akaya knows a secret then chances are 'Haru knows too, which means most of the school will have some idea about it after a little while…" Bunta swallowed past the lump in his throat. "He hates the rain. He looks cute as hell when he pouts and scowls. He… he likes milk chocolate better than white or dark. And… and… and…" Bunta started sniffling.

Naeko patted him soothingly on his shoulder. Bunta buried his face into his pillow and cried.

He couldn't stop, even though it embarrassed him hugely to be crying like a little kid in front of his aunt.

When he finally got himself under control, Naeko looked close to tears herself. "I have to say, I thought he was a brat at first," she began, and Marui interjected a mumbled, 'that's cos he is' before letting her continue, "but he really grows on you. It's a real shame that he has to move."

"I'll go to Hokkaido too," Bunta sniffled. "We can get a flat together, or something."

Naeko smiled sadly. "You know you can't. Not until you turn eighteen, at least, which won't be for another three years."

"Two and a half," Bunta countered.

"Same difference, right?"

Bunta drooped and nodded. "It's not fair," he said, for the thousandth time that day.

"I know, Bunta."

"He's gonna find someone else, isn't he?" he said softly. "Cos we'll hardly ever see each other, and even if I call him every day it won't be the same. He'll find someone else, and it's not fair, cos I had him first."

"Well, then you'll find someone else too, won't you?" Naeko said pragmatically. Marui immediately glared at her.

"He's unique!" he said hotly. "There isn't anyone like him in the whole world and no-one else is good enough or childish enough or silly enough or green-eyed enough, or, or…"

"Alright, alright," Naeko said quickly. "Sorry. But Bunta, take it from someone who's lived five more years than you. No-one'll be the same, but that's fine because the next person won't have anyone else the same as them either."

"You're not making any sense again," Bunta muttered pettily, even though he knew perfectly well what Naeko was trying to say.

Naeko chewed her lip as she tried to find a way to phrase her words in a simpler way, but in the end she just gave Bunta a rueful smile and said, "You know what I mean."

Bunta shrugged, and Naeko nodded understandingly.

"Listen, don't think about it too much," she said gently. "It won't change anything. You can spend all day with him tomorrow; enjoy it, ok? There's nothing you can do, Bunta. Yes, I know," she batted her hand against his mouth to stop him speaking, "I know it's unfair, I _know_. But you have to be practical." She sat up and pecked Bunta affectionately on the forehead before getting up. "Try and sleep well. That way you can enjoy tomorrow more, ne?"

"Ok," Bunta nodded quietly.

"I'll make you pancakes for breakfast. Good night."

"Night."

Naeko went out, shutting the bedroom door behind her. She stayed just outside it for a few moments, wondering whether there was more she could have said to make her beloved little nephew feel better. But really, she'd done all she could. Sadly, she went back to her own room, and reflected for most of the night/early morning on the cheeky, green-eyed boy that had completely stolen Bunta's heart.

**-------------------------------**

Just over a mile away, Kirihara Akaya was staring in shock at the boy who'd just dragged him out of the hospital.

"W-why?" he asked tearfully, looking up at Niou. "Why, Niou-senpai?"

A dark grin spread slowly over Niou's face. "Payback," he said. "I never forget."

Akaya tried his hardest not to cry.

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Sandy: Mwa ha ha. I'm being mean, aren't I? Pft. I think I deserve to be mean. –scowls at her exam timetable- Nuh…

Oh, also, I made a little mistake in my last AN. I realised that I was completely wrong about Hokkaido being attached to Honshu; I don't know why I thought that. o.0;; I must've been thinking of something else... Anyway, it's not attached, and it takes four hours to get there by ferry, or an hour by the train that goes through an underwater tunnel. -.-;; Sorry about that.

If you liked it, then please review. If you want to see it continued, please review. If you like muffins, please review! xDD I'm thinking that since this is the sixteenth (-falls over- the sixteenth!! My gawd) drabblething, then I'll put up the next one when I hit sixteen reviews. Fair enough:)

Wish me luck for my exams… I'll hopefully see you before Christmas with my contribution to the Christmas fanfics… -yawns- So sleepy… Goodnight…


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